4 June 2021

Secondment from Member States is a key instrument to generate personnel for civilian crisis management missions. Increasing the numbers of secondment to civilian CSDP is one of the core commitments of the Civilian CSDP Compact, and Member States’ legal, regulatory and budgetary frameworks are the very basis for making increases possible. Which good practices and challenges have EU Member States identified within their own setup of those frameworks for civilian CSDP?  And which lessons learned can be shared to increase efficiency of frameworks give a boost to the number of secondees?  

These were some of the main questions discussed during the CoE workshop on Legal, regulatory and budgetary frameworks of secondment. The event took place in a virtual format on 4 June 2021. 47 representatives from 19 EU Member States discussed and exchanged good practices. Latvia, Finland, Italy, Romania and Germany inspired the participants with presentations of their national frameworks, highlighting a variety of good examples that other Member States were interested in learning more about. The workshop was organised by the CoE in close collaboration with Sweden, represented by Anna Hammarlund Blixt (Head of Europe Division, Department for European Security Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs) and Ida Höckerfelt (Desk Officer). Anna Hammarlund Blixt together with Marie Wellmann, Special Assistant to the CoE Director, moderated the workshop.  

In preparation of the workshop, the CoE Team conducted a mapping analysis of Member States´ legal, regulatory and budgetary frameworks. It became evident that there is a wealth of good practices among Member States to adapt and to share with each other in order to increase frameworks efficiency for civilian CSDP missions. Participants discussed their national setups and were eager to benefit from each other’s lessons learned.    

Common challenges EU Member States identified were: 

• Achieving budget flexibility for the deployment of personnel to civilian CSDP missions in order to react to changes and to avoid unspent allocations  
• The establishment of well-functioning inter-ministerial coordination in order to increase the number of secondments   
• Obtaining political support from line ministries, Parliament and seconding agencies  

Participants highlighted the following good practices 

• The transition from an annual to a multi-annual planning timeframe for strategies, priorities and budget allocations to boost secondments   
• Striking a balance between long-term planning and short-term flexibility for budgets  
• Establishing a centralised and dedicated budget line for civilian CSDP missions
   

Martina Perazzolo, Seconded National Expert from Italy, invited CoE members to engage with the Centre by sharing thoughts, ideas and requests when working on optimising legal, regulatory and budgetary frameworks. Following this workshop, the CoE will organise and facilitate matchmaking meetings between interested Member States to enhance cooperation and the mutual exchange of good practices and lessons learned. 

To find out more about the workshop, please contact Marie Wellmann, marie.wellmann@coe-civ.eu, or Martina Perazzolo, martina.perazzolo@coe-civ.eu. 

Related on the Knowledge Hub:

Workshop Report and Presentations: Legal, Regulatory and Budgetary Frameworks of Secondment